The World Obscure (Lily and James, Year 6)
by Darthishtar
Summary: With Lord Voldemort on the rise and Death Eaters growing in ranks, the wizarding world has never been in more peril. A pair of murders is linked to a pair of disappearances. Meanwhile, Hogwarts is about to start and there are dangers and dramas in store that hit closer to home than anyone would like.


Author's Note: For years, I have been reading Lily and James fics without finding ones that work with what I expect. I decided to write my own. For fans of other HP stories on my profile, I'm going to finish those, but they are going to be alternating with updates on this. I am currently only working on fanfic on Fridays, as I'm trying to finish writing one manuscript and finish editing another before I leave for a hiking trip on June 12. I will try to update this every 1-2 weeks. It will not have explicit content beyond the occasional use of a profanity that appears in the books. Also, I know this is book 6 without the first five books. I'm writing them as the inspiration comes.

~~00~~

"The pine stays green in winter...wisdom in hardship." -Norman Douglas

"Hardship makes the world obscure." -Don DeLillo

~~00~~

 **Prologue**

There were certain rites of passage that were expected-nay, demanded-of a group like the Marauders. They were not troublemakers, much as McGonagall banged on about their misbehavior; they were adventurers and risk-takers and by god, they were mischievous beyond their years.

Had this been a school night, their choices would have included nicking food from the kitchens, accepting a dare from Peeves or trying to play Sardines with Filch. But that would have to wait a few days. It was August 31 and schoolboy pranks would have to wait until after they had their new timetables.

That didn't mean, however, that they were moping around Moony's bedroom, waiting for permission to cause mayhem. They were sixteen and that meant some kind of spirit was required.

"Gigglewater?" Sirius scoffed.

"Aged gigglewater," Remus corrected. "Quite a good vintage."

"Meaning it'll be rancid," James decided. "Wormtail, can't you go find some firewhiskey?"

"Don't keep it in the house," Remus said mournfully. "They think that making a werewolf raucously drunk would get out of hand."

"And they think a maniacally-laughing mutt would be any better?" Sirius uncorked the bottle and sniffed. "They need to get a life, mate."

"Stop whinging and pass it on if you're too good for the giggles."

Sirius was not one to pass up something illicit, even if it had about as much booze as cooking sherry. He took a hearty swig, grimaced and then cackled.

"Blegh, that's awful."

""Share the misery," Remus encouraged, extending a hand.

Sirius was still sniggering from his first mouthful, but took another dram and the snigger turned into a chortle. If they let this go on, he might start giggling.

"Get on with it," James said impatiently, snatching the bottle away.

"I thought we were too sophisticated for his," Remus mused. "I assume it hasn't gone off?"

Padfoot's only response was an immoderate guffaw. Five seconds and a loud gulp later, James belched loudly. Sirius answered with his own belch and James dropped the bottle, bent nearly double.

"I told you," Remus said, "Unlike you lot, this matured with age."

The first giggle came, predictably, from Wormtail. It was even more high-pitched than usual. Remus snorted and retrieved the bottle. A game of catch-up was in order and he found the right level of inebriation at the moment that Peter's wheezy giggle dropped to a belly laugh.

"Can you imagine our hangovers?" James speculated.

"We'll be laughing at everything Dumbledore says," Remus predicte. "The Interhouse Quidditch Championship...BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And Mr. Filch would like t remind all students that he will draw and quarter anyone who tracks mud in his corridors...TEEHEE! Mr. Wormtail, is there something funny about death?"

He couldn't help it. A shriek of laughter clawed its way up his throat and he clapped his hand to his mouth. The others only laughed harder.

"I laugh in the face of death, Headmaster!" James declare. "I would like to make a toast...Moony, pass the gigglewater."

"Wonder if there's a spell for this," Sirius commented, brandishing his wand with a flourish. "Giggleaguamenti!"

"You've got it all wrong, Padfoot," James snorted. "Ask Evans. You nee da nice long eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. Aguameeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenti."

His flourish shot a geyser of water into Peter's face. He toppled off his chair, spluttering, while the other three collapsed in fits of laughter that were perhaps not the fault of the spirits. That was until Peter retaliated. His aguamenti was about as powerful as a ater pistol, but in their current state, no one minded very much. It rarely took much to tempt the Marauders into some kind of wild rumpus and the giggle water could only help.

"Seriously, Wormie, try for something stronger next excursion," James sniggered.

"This was all I could roll," Peter whined. "Maybe you should sneak out next."

"Because no one will suspect shenanigans when a stag raids the liquor cabinet," James said.

"Invisibility Cloak," Sirius sang. "But not tonight."

"Why not tonight?"

Sirius pointe lazily at Remus, whose giggles were now coming with the regularity of hiccups. "Moony over here has to be the golden boy in about twelve hours and if we turn up like this, we'll have detention faster than you can say…"

He belched, inciting another round of laughter, but their hearts didn't seem to be in it.

"Damn," he muttered. "Must be wearing off."

"Pity," Sirius said. "Need a refill?"

"We have to be on the Hogwarts Express in twelve hours." James pronounced. "A few hours after that, we'll be under the watchful eye of McGonagall and Dumbledore. The number of authority figures in our immediate vicinity will quintuple."

Remus belched again and felt his spirits sinking lower at the mere idea that he would have to be one of those authority figures. At least the full moon was in the recent past.

"Even Sirius, the one who had needed the least influence to get giddy on their last night of freedom, was looking as if Christmas had been canceled on account of Quidditch being called off.

"We're going to need a lot more of this."

~~00~~

"You can't be serious."

Lily sighed into the receiver. "Of course I am," she said grudgingly. "Petunia's bringing a boyfriend home and Mum says she thinks it's serious. We're going to have a civil family dinner and show him that, no matter what my sister thinks, there can be peace in the Evans household."

"Meaning that you'll Confund them both before pudding?" Hestia guessed.

"Not if I can help it."

"So, you're really going to give up backstage passes to the Hobgoblins to mingle with Muggles?"

Lily had never been much of a concert-goer, but after Mary Macdonald had gotten passes to the sold-out concert, she'd convinced everyone in their dorm to "I'm going to avoid the chance of being flattened by Stubby Boardman fans and hope that this Vernon hasn't heard too much about me," Lily corrected.

"You think that's likely?"

It was very likely to be wishful thinking, but she had an answer that was mostly honest. "I think Petunia would rather die than admit that I'm…"

"Extraordinary?" Hestia supplied.

The euphemism drew a laugh from her as nothing else had today. "Yes, extraordinary. She just can't cope with how clever I am."

"It's a burden we all share," her friend intimated. "So you think she'll keep her horsey jaw shut in front of your future prat-in-law?"

"Hestia!"

"She's your family, but I don't have to like her," Hestia defended. "And if Tuney likes him, he's probably a prat."

"I'm trying to think positive," Lily said. "Mum says he's very responsible and dotes on Petunia. Just as long as he doesn't take exception when I say that my favorite subject is Potions, we'll be fine."

Hestia sighed, finally admitting defeat. "I wish you the best of luck. See you at King's Cross."

"Be safe."

Lily hung up the receiver just as the front doorbell rang. Her heart leapt into her throat-Vernon Dursley wasn't due to arrive for another hour-but it was the neighbor, bringing a piece of misdelivered mail. Lily couldn't spend the next hour living in fear of every knock at the door, so she beat a hasty retreat to her room for a final bit of packing.

Her clothes were freshly laundered and folded neatly next to the new schoolbooks. Her OWL results had come in July and Mum and Dad had been quite pleased, even if they had stopped to ask why one of the fail marks was designated T for Troll. She hadn't gotten anything below an E, which meant that Professor McGonagall would be clearing her for her proposed course schedule in two days' time.

The only subject she was not looking forward to was Potions. FIve years of friendship with Severus Snape and an inability to keep her mouth shut had oddly endeared her to the Potions master, but the class allowed for a great deal of down-time and if last year was any indication, Sev would try to let bygones be bygones at least once. He'd already sent her a number of owls since she refused to come to the door, and it had taken Petunia's threat to call the police to stop him from turning up at the house.

But Severus could be easily avoided otherwise. She would have to see him in the Great Hall, but Mary had sworn that she'd find a way to put the entirety of Gryffindor House between the two of them and it didn't sound like too bad a plan.

All she had to do was survive dinner with Dursley.

~~00~~

Often, sightings of the Dark Mark were not reported for a few hours. The killings often occurred in the dead of night, when sane people were asleep in their beds. One person had been murdered in such a remote place that they were only discovered after relatives came to visit three days later.

Tonight, however, the Death Eaters were taunting the Aurors. There were a spree of killings ranging from Gosport to York, but the one that was most immediately noticed was one that no one could miss. It was the first time that they had dared to strike in Muggle London and while the Aurors had acted quickly, they'd had to Obliviate thirty people in Knightsbridge and five of those had been injured when the Death Eaters had fought their way out of the neighborhood rather than Disapparating quietly.

"Any idea who it was?" Cassius Scrimgeour asked.

"We're checking the registry," Gideon Prewett commented. "There aren't many of our kind in this neighborhood, so it might have been a part-Muggle family or a Squib. Might even have been a random target."

"No," Cassius muttered. "If it had been random, they would have killed masses."

It was more complicated than usual. The Killing Curse was a favorite, but this address boasted a pair of bodies which were mutilated beyond recognition. They were adults, judging by the build, but it was difficult to even identify them as male or female.

"Spread out," he ordered. "See if you can find anything that will narrow down the search."

There was no post lying around and there was some kind of charm on one of the doors that prohibited it from being opened the usual way. Cassius had just ventured into the master bathroom when Prewett gave a shout.

"Found it," he announced.

His expression was even more grim than it had been upon the discovery of the two bodies. In his hand, he bore a piece of parchment and the knuckles on the hand brandishing the letter were white.

"Dated two months ago," he announced. "At least one of the people living here is due to start Hogwarts tomorrow and her name is Martha Macdonald."

"Macdonald," Cassius echoed. "But neither of these people is an 11-year-old girl."

"Which means we need to find her before she comes home," his partner decided. "If these people were family, it'd be a terrible shock."

"It's the night before term starts," Cassius reflected. "She won't be staying out late."

"Meaning she could be back any moment?"

"Meaning you should go back to the office and I'll wait downstairs." He gestured to the room. "They have no way of connecting to the Floo Network and I can put up some Anti-Apparition wards so they'll have to come by the street if they want to reach home."

"All right." Cassius looked frankly relieved at the idea of not having to linger her. He was already looking pale under his freckles, but was man enough to not mention it. "Are you sure you don't want backup?"

"No need," Cassius said. "The Death Eaters have done their work here and we'll just be the ones to clean up the mess."

His guess that Martha would return early was dead wrong, though. A further inspection of the room indicated that a girl named Mary Macdonald had received a book list for sixth-year Hogwarts students. Perhaps the girls had gone out for one last night of fun before homework was expected.

By eleven o'clock the following morning, however, the Hogwarts Express had left without either one of them and the grim scene on Pont Street had turned into a different kind of nightmare.


End file.
